Senate Finance committee presents 2015 proposed budget to plenary

By AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMA News

Published November 18, 2014 5:01pm

In compliance with the Supreme Court decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program, the Senate finance committee on Tuesday proposed a redefinition of savings and deletion of special provisions that allow cross-border transfer of savings from the executive to other branches of government in the 2015 national budget.

Savings should be defined as the portions or balances of any “released” appropriations in the General Appropriations Act which have not been obligated contrary to the approved definition of the House of Representatives, committee chairman Senator Francis Escudero said in his sponsorship speech.

“The House-approved bill does not require that the funds be released to be declared as savings, only that such funds have not been obligated,” he said.

The Senate panel proposal demands more fiscal responsibility from agencies by adding the provision in Sec. 68 that, “Programmed appropriations which have not been released or allotments not obligated due to the fault of the agency concerned shall not be considered savings and shall revert to the General Fund,” according to the senator.

He said the committee proposed that savings cannot be used to augment a non-existent project through the use of an appropriation not otherwise authorized in the subject GAA, and that the existence of an appropriation for an allotment class, whether for Personal Services, MOOE, or Capital Outlays, in a project is necessary for purposes of augmentation.

Special purpose funds

The panel also proposed the deletion of special provision under special purpose funds which allow savings from the said funds to be made available to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government, including constitutional offices.

The panel also wants to prohibit the use of Quick Response Fund for pre-disaster activities or any other purpose not authorized in the GAA, except to procure insurance policies that will cover the repair, rehabilitation, reconstruction and/or replacement of hospitals and health centers and facilities, ports, airports, rails, and school buildings damaged by natural and man-made calamities and other catastrophes.

It provided P100 million to cover any deficiency in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of the local government units (LGUs) in view of valid adjustments, changes, modifications or alterations in any of the factors affecting the computation of the IRA which occurred, including final and executor court decisions made effective during the year.

The committee also proposed a detailed listing of the farm-to-market road projects under the Department of Agriculture.

The Finance committee deemed it better to provide budgetary increases for the following:

Increase of P19 billion for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program to cover past disasters including Yolanda, Glenda and Mario

Increase of P3.636 billion for the Department of Education, particularly for a Feeding Program, the Quick Response Fund, and Chalk Allowance

Realignment of P2.670 billion under the Information and Communications Technology Office for Free Wi-Fi Internet in public places, to be sourced from the Digitization Empowerment Program

Restoration of the House cut on DPWH amounting to P242.6 million under MFO 3 or “Maintenance and Construction Services of Other Infrastructures” and the restoration of P1.318 billion under MFO 1 or “National Road Network Services.” In addition, an increase of P1.130 billion will be provided for the Quick Response Fund of the DPWH to bring it to P2 billion

Reallocation/Restoration of P1 billion for the Philippine Children’s Medical Center particularly for Hospital Modernization, to be sourced from their budget for Land Acquisition pending the Department of Justice’s opinion on the land swap transaction between the DOJ and the NHA

Additional P816.229 million for the Philippine Crop Insurance Service which will now total P2 billion

Increase of P715.36 million for the Enterprise Information System Plan (IT for e-courts) of the Supreme Court

An accompanying Special Provision in the Supreme Court budget provides that… “all non-recurring appropriations herein such as, but not limited to, foreign-assisted projects and locally-funded projects, shall not form part of the Judiciary’s appropriation that may not be reduced by Congress under Section 3, Article VIII of the Constitution”

Increase of P500 million for the Quick Response Fund of the Department of Health

Increase of P421.5 million for the Bureau of Customs for Workplace Modernization and various equipment to counter the perennial problem of smuggling

Additional budget of P362.472 million for the Department of National Defense as Buildings Outlay for the National Defense College of the Philippines as well as for Force Sustainment or Enhancement of the various Engineering Brigades of the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, and the Philippine Navy

Increase of P300 million for the Modernization Program and Faculty Development of the Philippine Normal University

Increase of P108.907 million for Jail Facilities under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to be sourced from the cut in Monitoring and Evaluation Cost of PAMANA and the Grassroots Participatory Program of the DILG-OSEC

Realignment of P2.915 billion in the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, specifically from the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program and the KALAHI-CIDSS projects to Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens which will benefit 460,647 senior citizens at a total cost of P2.770 billion in line with R.A. No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010. Additional funding of P50 million will also be provided for the Comprehensive Project for Street Children, Street Families and Indigenous Peoples-especially Badjaos, as well as an additional P95 million for Protective Services for Individuals and Families in Difficult Circumstances

Increase of P15 million for the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos for the Hajj Travel Assistance and Endowment Administration Services.

In a statement, Escudero said the amendments the Senate plans to introduce to the House-approved budget was meant to make substantial improvement on it.

“What we’ll do is reduce overhead, increase funding for frontline services, put money on programs which have been overlooked,” he said.

By the senator's estimate, about P91.82 billion will be affected through changes in funding levels or in the provisions governing their use to ensure there will be substantial allocations for education, health, nutrition, and rehabilitation and reconstruction.

“None of this will be pork in whatever name or form. There will be no earmarks sporting new titles,” Escudero stressed.

The senator explained a careful and thorough scrutiny of lump sums under next year’s spending package gave the committee some “budget space” to realign funds and identify programs which allocations can be put to good use elsewhere.

He assured though that “there will be no cuts that hurt” in the budget of government offices facing funding adjustments, saying most realignments will be done within the agency.

P2.6 trillion

The National Expenditure Program amounts to P2.6 trillion, about 15 percent higher than this year’s budget, an outlay equivalent to 18.4 percent of the estimated gross domestic product in 2015.

By sector, social services get the biggest share with P967.9 billion, followed by economic services, P700.2 billion; general public services, P423.1 billion; debt burden, P399.4 billion; and defense, P115.5 billion.

By recipient agency, Department of Education leads the top 10 with P365.1 billion; Department of Public Works and Highways, P300.5 billion; Department of National Defense, P144 billion; Department of Interior and Local Government, P141.4; Department of Social Welfare and Development, P109 billion; Department of Health, P102.2 billion; Department of Agriculture (including budgetary support to NFA, PCA and NIA), P88.8 billion; Department of Transportation and Communications, P59 billion; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P21.3 billion; and Department of Science and Technology (DOST), P19.4 billion.

By expenditure type, Personal Services (PS) is allocated P761 billion; Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), P935 billion; Financial Expenses, P375 billion; and Capital Outlays (CO), P534 billion. – VS, GMA News

Tags: budget2015